FIGS. 6 to 9 show a conventional electronic component feeder.
As shown in FIG. 6, an electronic component 3 is accommodated in a container 2 in a carrier tape 1, and the surface of the carrier tape 1 is covered with a peelable top tape 4 in order to prevent the electronic component 3 from falling off.
The carrier tape 1 containing the electronic component 3 therein is fed from a carrier tape feeding-out reel 6 disposed at the base end of an electronic component feeder 5 to a tape feeding wheel 8 by means of a feed lever 7, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. At the tip end of the electronic component feeder 5, the carrier tape 1 is transferred while being pressed against a tape transfer surface 12 by means of a tape press body 9.
While the top tape 4 of the carrier tape 1, transferred at a predetermined pitch by means of the tape feeding wheel 8, is peeled at a peeling portion 13 formed at the tape press body 9, the electronic component 3 is extracted through a window portion 14 formed downstream of the tape press body 9 by means of a suction nozzle 10. The peeled top tape 4 is taken up around a taking-up reel 11.
The base end (upstream end) of the tape press body 9 is pivotally supported by a main block 17 centering on a shaft 15 (i.e., in a direction indicated by an arrow A), as specifically shown in FIG. 8, and the tape press body 9 is urged in such a direction as to be pressed against the tape transfer surface 12 by a spring 16.
With the conventional configuration as described above, since a clearance between the tape transfer surface 12 and the tape press body 9 becomes large in the vicinity of the peeling portion 13 upstream in a tape transfer direction (i.e., in a direction indicated by an arrow B), in the case where the thickness of the carrier tape 1 is thin, as shown in FIG. 9(a), there arises a problem that the electronic component 3 accommodated in the container 2 is rotated under wind pressure induced by the movement of the top tape 4 in the peeling portion 13.
Furthermore, since the clearance between the tape transfer surface 12 and the tape press body 9 becomes large in the vicinity of the window portion 14 downstream in the tape transfer direction (i.e., in the direction indicated by an arrow B), in the case where the thickness of the carrier tape 1 is thick, as shown in FIG. 9(b), there arises another problem that the electronic component 3 cannot be normally extracted due to the vibration of the electronic component 3 based on a pulsation in the feeding direction of the carrier tape 1.
Moreover, if the urging force of the spring 16 is so strong as to deform the tape press body 9 to eliminate the clearance between the carrier tape 1 and the tape press body 9, there arises a further problem that the carrier tape 1 is deficiently transferred due to excessive pressing of the carrier tape 1.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above problems of the prior art. Therefore, on object of the present invention is to provide an electronic component feeder capable of stably feeding electronic components in the processes of transferring a tape accommodating the electronic components therein, and peeling a top tape so as to extract the electronic components.